


Evening Chill

by makesometime



Category: Terra Nova (TV)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Desk Sex, F/M, Fingerfucking, Friends to Lovers, Male-Female Friendship, Resolved Sexual Tension, Semi-Public Sex, Sharing Body Heat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-31
Updated: 2012-03-31
Packaged: 2017-11-06 19:35:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/422451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makesometime/pseuds/makesometime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And Wash. Was she... <i>snuggling</i>?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Evening Chill

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mercscilla](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mercscilla/gifts).



The colony had been without power for three days now, thanks to what Malcolm reliably informed him was 'the mother of all solar flares'. Taylor didn't pretend to understand a word of what the scientist said after that, but Wash nodded along with apparent belief in the man's words, so he took the information in good faith. After the EMP sent out by the meteorite, they shielded the back-up generators against interference, meaning the labs, security and the infirmary were fine after the flare.

Which just left the rest of them to band together and make it through the tough days without heat, water or light in the evenings.

And it was of course also the middle of winter. Because the situation wouldn't be complete without that little gem.

Taylor watched now, looking out over the main square of Terra Nova and smiling at the sight before him. The colonists had rallied admirably. When night fell, instead of retiring to their units, people took to gathering in the square; lighting fires and cooking over coals, returning to the days of the ancestors with remarkable ease.

He sought out Wash and found her seated on a bench by one of the small bonfires, chatting casually to Reynolds and Maddy Shannon. She had her arms crossed over her stomach as the young couple huddled together, all three attempting to ward off the cold of the evening using the heat of the flames. As a result, her face was lit up by the orange light, accenting her features with striking effect and he had to pretend that he wasn't a little struck dumb by the sight of her. His position, alone on the darkened balcony of Command, leant him a modicum of privacy and made him able to continue to watch her as she conversed with the pair; to revel in her smiles and strain his ears to make out their conversation.

He was so busy staring at her face, pretending to himself that he was actually attempting to read her lips and nothing more sentimental, that he almost missed the way she stiffened the tiniest amount. She was good, her reaction not obvious and her speech continuing without any interruption; but there was a wariness to her eyes now, a bracing against an encroaching threat that he could read in her without any effort.

Looking beyond her he almost had to laugh when he saw Shannon approaching, thick brown blanket spread wide and grasped in both hands. From where he was standing he could practically _feel_ the man's glee at sneaking up on Wash and bet that she could too, so switched his attention back to watch her reaction.

He saw Maddy roll her eyes when her father came into view, saw a small smile tug at the edges of Wash's mouth a second before Shannon jumped her, wrapping her up in both the blanket and his embrace, arms winding around her middle and holding her still as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Shannon! What the hell?" Wash cried, but there was blatant amusement in her tone and the man knew it.

"Thought you looked cold Wash." He said, tightening his grip as she attempted another exit from his arms. "Couldn't have that."

The rest of their conversation was swallowed up by the noise of the crowd; Taylor only just about held off from sneaking closer to them in an attempt to figure out what Shannon had said to make Wash laugh, genuinely laugh, something even he himself struggled to do on a regular basis. Whatever she managed in reply was obviously enough for Shannon to release her, and Taylor let his attention wander, assuming she would be left alone.

Only, Shannon didn't pass through his roaming gaze as expected. Taylor looked back at the fire and his grip on the railing tightened reflexively when he saw the sheriff seated next to Wash, an arm thrown around her shoulders.

And Wash. Was she... _snuggling_?

Taylor knew the perils of long-term exposure to the cold, how the desperation set in far more quickly than you could imagine, how the need to gain heat from any source possible would be unbearable.

But still. Wash. Snuggling. With _Shannon_? 

It wasn't _that_ cold.

The other man said something to his daughter that made the young girl flush and Wash smack his chest with a snort of laughter, chastising him quietly. He looked down at her with a fond expression, tightened his arm around her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

The wood beneath Taylor's hands creaked.

Still not quite believing his eyes, Taylor searched around for Elisabeth, certain that she would see how utterly and completely unnatural this whole situation was, and defuse it with her usual tact and grace. He found her with Josh and Zoe by one of the barbecues, her son's arm around his mother to keep her warm as Elisabeth shifted the blanketed form of her youngest on her hip.

She looked around for her husband and daughter and Taylor saw when she spotted them.

And promptly lost all faith in the sanity of his friends when she laughed, pointing their father out to her children. 

The trio grabbed their food and started over to join the group. Halfway there Elisabeth frowned and, with alarming ease, looked directly up at him on the balcony. His face must have said it all because she stopped, passed Zoe over to Josh and ushered them onwards without her. Then she placed her hands on her hips, raised one eyebrow and mouthed ' _Really?_ ' at him.

Well. If anything was going to make him feel like a silly old fool it was the chastisement of the Shannon matriarch.

Elisabeth just shook her head and moved on before she could be missed, convinced in her ability to express her feelings with one silent intonation alone. And, damn her, she was right. He saw her approach her family, watched the way Jim slipped away from Wash without a moment's hesitation to greet his wife. 

He really was a fool.

Elisabeth pressed a soft kiss to her husband's lips before whispering something and slipping past him to sit beside Wash.

_Oh._

Why had he never pegged Elisabeth Shannon as a meddlesome fiend before?

His concern over Jim suddenly paled into insignificance when he noticed the doctor lean in conspiratorially to his lieutenant, getting very close to be heard clearly over the noise around them while still remaining secluded. He watched Wash stiffen for a second time that evening, her entire body going taut at whatever she was being told. And then, with the same unerring accuracy that Elisabeth had earlier showed, her gaze switched up to land on him.

For the first time in a long time he couldn't read her reaction.

Elisabeth squeezed Wash's hand beneath the blanket and then gave her a nudge with her shoulder, earning herself a half-hearted glare. But then Wash just nodded, tucking her hair behind her ears and hitching the blanket further onto her shoulders before standing and making for his location.

He leant back against the railing as he awaited her, feeling the tension flood out of his body when she settled beside him, matching his posture and positioning exactly.

"Sir." She greeted after a moment's silence. 

"Wash." He replied, taking the cowardly route of leaving the ball in her court.

He could have sworn he heard her heart beating in the ensuing silence, the rhythm hastening as she considered what to say. "Elisabeth just told me–."

"Wash." He interrupted. "You don't have to."

She cocked her head to one side but still didn't look at him, her gaze fixed on the people below. "Sir." She started; paused and ducked her head. "Nathaniel." She whispered.

It was only when he turned his head to look at her at the sound of his name on her beautiful lips that he noticed she was shaking, shivering from the cold up on the exposed balcony.

"Wash..." He murmured, facing her fully and opening his arms. "Come here."

He watched her forehead crease, her mouth curl into a weary smile. She didn't believe in him. But she would.

"Sir, I don't want to impose."

"Don't make me order you, Wash." He teased and she chuckled, yet remained resolutely where she was. Which, as far as he could see, left him one option.

Her sharp intake of breath as he moved in behind her, hands settling either side of hers on the railing, was one of the best sounds he had ever had the pleasure of hearing. She instantly relaxed into his warmth, letting her fingers brush against his thumbs in a silent invitation; he took it by linking their hands and moving closer, resting his chin on her shoulder as Shannon had not ten minutes earlier.

Speaking of...

"Can I ask you a question?" He queried, voice low and rumbling through them both.

She sighed happily, her shivering abating as she let her head fall to rest against his cheek. "Of course."

"What on earth possessed you to cuddle up with Shannon?"

Wash let out a beautiful little snort of a laugh, tightening her grip on his fingers. "He was there, and he was warm and please don't tell me you were jealous." He huffed out a breath in distaste at her choice of words but it wasn't enough to stop her turning her (and Elisabeth's, he would expect) assumption into a fact. "You _were_." She breathed, as if the confirmation was too much to take in.

Which, he supposed, it was. After all this time.

"You know, even when Elisabeth said, I didn't..." She started, trailing off when Taylor moved his hands from hers, wrapping his arms around her blanket-covered form and holding her tightly. 

She melted back into him with an ease which suggested she had been doing so for years (and should have been, should have been, why was he such a fool?) "Why didn't you say anything?" She asked.

Why hadn't he? In truth, despite his talent for long inspiring speeches, he was far more comfortable with _doing_ than _saying_. And Wash knew this to be true, would hold this within herself as a explanation for his silence all these past years, if not a justification. He knew her mind would be working a mile a minute to remember every moment he might have showed more than due care and attention, every moment the words to bring them together might have been on his lips before being stolen away by circumstance or interruption.

It was up to him now to provide a solution to make any justification unnecessary.

And solutions were something he could do.

He let one hand trail down her stomach, feeling muscles pull tight under the path of his touch. He continued downwards, between the layers of the blanket to cup her gently through her fatigues. Her breath caught in her throat in a strangled gasp as he pressed harder, and she widened her stance in response. Her hand came down to cover his as he pressed his lips against the side of her neck, his tongue passing over her skin and leaving her groaning. She pulled his hand away and he grumbled his displeasure against her throat but she just laughed, adjusting the weight of the blanket so it fell in front of her, between them and the crowd below. She then brought his hand around and under the blanket from the side, hiding his actions from view.

"Alicia. Are you sure?" He mumbled, lips rather more preoccupied with tasting her, her skin still warm from the fire.

In response she just pressed his hand tighter against her, gasping when he found her clit and pushed the pad of his index finger hard against her. " _Yes_." She said in a rush of breath and he couldn't hold back his wide grin any longer.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to hear you say that." He said, hand advancing upwards to undo her belt, his other still a hard presence around her waist. He relaxed his hold there, moving his free hand back to tangle with one of hers on the railing.

"Keep going and you'll hear it a lot more." She said, and he laughed, inching the zipper down as if wrenching it open with the force both of them wanted would create too much noise and alert the colonists.

Once her pants were open he slipped his hand inside, past her underwear and into the slick heat of her folds. She moaned his given name as his fingers skimmed over her clit, further down until he was teasing her entrance with his middle finger. Adjusting her stance allowed Wash to feel his obvious arousal now pressing insistently against her and she tipped her head back to breathe out a whisper of pleasure and encouragement. " _Yes_ , please Nathaniel." 

"Keep watching the crowd, Wash." He said, and when she was facing forward once more, he rewarded her by plunging two fingers into her heat. She let out the most glorious sharp whimper at the intrusion, quickly biting down on her lip to hold the noise in when he spread his fingers and withdrew. "Shhh. They'll hear you. And I don't want to share you."

"You never did, sir." She said and it was his turn to groan, pressing his mouth firmly against her once more to avoid breaking his own rule.

The crowd was clearing out, ready to head home and attempt to sleep in the iceboxes of their units. But a sizeable amount remained and to allow her the release he desired to experience would be impossible in this position. So, much as it pained him, he pulled his hand from her fatigues and tugged on their linked hands, walking backwards to his office.

When she turned to follow him, eyes shining with arousal and mouth curved into the most brilliant smile, Taylor couldn't stop the urge to have his lips on hers. A quick jerk of his hand and she was falling into him with a huff of laughter which quickly morphed into another moan as their lips met. Continuing to walk them backwards, his tongue snaked out to trace her bottom lip only to be denied by a still-smiling Wash.

No matter. He could work on that later.

Somewhere between the door and his desk he turned them around, so that she was the one walking backwards until the hard press of the glass hit her backside. She tore her lips away with great effort and fixed him with a glare.

"No. Not the desk." She said firmly, force behind every syllable.

"Why not?" He asked, running his lips along her jaw.

A hand came to the back of his head to hold him close. "Glass'll be freezing." She groused, nails digging into his scalp as he sucked on her pulse.

"Good thing we've got a blanket then, lieutenant." He said, pushing it off of her shoulders and laying it down carefully without removing his lips from her.

"If you say so, sir." She said with a practised air of resignation that was quickly turned on its head when he grasped her hips and easily lifted her onto the edge of the desk. She groaned, reaching for his belt and bringing him close. "I _love_ that you can do that." She murmured, working the zipper open and sneaking her hand inside before she even tried to remove the material from him. 

His masculine pride swelled until her hand found him and he let out an undignified squawk, pulling her away. "Christ woman, your hands are cold!"

She laughed, bringing them to her mouth and blowing on them, before rubbing them together. Then her questing hand was back in his pants, surrounding his length. "Better, sir?"

He didn't reply, just captured her lips once more. She swallowed his groan when she squeezed him, opening her mouth under him this time to allow his tongue entry. "Sir?" She eventually questioned against his mouth, and it was great effort to pull away from her to answer.

"Wash?"

"Hate to hurry you, sir." She grinned wolfishly, hand tracking back up his length with delicious slowness. "But I'm getting cold."

"Should have known you'd be demanding, woman." He groused, even as his hands found her still-open belt and gripped it. "Lift." He commanded and she did so, letting him remove the clothing from her body after pulling off her boots.

Her hands were busy again as soon as he would let her, pushing his fatigues down until they hung loose from him, exposing him to her gaze. Her naked pleasure at the sight of him was enough to shake any desire he might have to linger over this, especially once she spread her legs and opened herself to him. He stepped closer, tugged her to the edge of the table.

"No going back, Wash." He said, nudging her nose with his own before capturing her lips tenderly.

She smiled fondly, cupping his cheek. "Just try and make me, sir."

He thrust into her for the first time with remarkable composure, hitching her legs up around his hips and leaning over her until she collapsed back onto the blanket. His mouth roamed her skin as he worked them into a satisfying rhythm, urged on by her heels digging into his ass, her soft sighs and murmurs of encouragement. When he ducked his head to capture a nipple in his mouth she arched into him with a breathy whimper that sent his hips bucking into her with enough force to shunt her further up the desk.

" _God_ , why did we wait this long?" Wash ground out, hand clutching at his shoulders as he switched breasts.

"Because I'm a goddamn idiot, Wash." Taylor said, grasping her sides and pulling her up as he straightened. 

Her legs and arms tightened around him as the depth and angle of his thrusts changed, sending fresh waves of pleasure through her body. "Not going to argue, sir."

He laughed, kissing her until neither had the breath to do so and still maintain their pace. Wash was close, he could slip a hand between them and finish her quickly but instead he adjusted his stance, thrusting until she gasped, the hands on his shoulders turning harsh with the addition of nails. Another thrust and those nails were scraping down his back, adding a peculiar level of pain that only served to spur him on. One more thrust and her body pulled tight, braced for the sensations it knew were to come.

"Wash... _Alicia_." He murmured, lips by her ear. "Come for me, Alicia."

One final thrust and she broke, screaming out her release into the dark, cold, office, burning bright in front of his eyes. He was achingly close as she pulsed around him and two more blind thrusts later he was following her into ecstasy, a feral-sounding roar being ripped from his throat.

He found Wash still wrapped around him when he finally came back to himself, breathing deep and even as she clutched him to her like a lifeline.

"Incredible." He said quietly, tipping her chin up to stare deep into her eyes. "Wash... do you have any idea what you mean to me?"

She tipped her head to observe him quietly, smiling. He could get used to seeing her do that more often. "I'm getting an idea, sir."

And he would do everything in his power to make sure she never lost that idea. "Pants on, lieutenant. Let's go somewhere warm."

Wash nodded, doing as he asked without question; following his orders as if nothing had changed. Which, he supposed, it hadn't.

"Where do you have in mind, sir? Not sure somewhere warm exists right now."

Taylor reached for her hand and she came to him willingly. "Nowhere warm exists _now_." He said, shooting her a look full of mischief. "After I'm done with you though..."

Wash laughed (louder, with more feeling than her earlier laughter with Jim, his mind pointed out, as it preened) and looked back at the desk one last time. "What are we gonna do with Shannon's blanket?"

Taylor considered it for a moment. "Leave it. If I find it first, it'll be a hell of a memory first thing in the morning. And if Shannon can't mind his own business, then it'll be a reminder to keep his nose out of things that don't concern him."

Wash snorted. "Right, that's gonna work."

Taylor shrugged, leading her from the building, past the mostly empty square and towards his quarters. "If it doesn't, we'll find another way."

As they passed the remains of a fire the flames lit up the eagerness in her eyes at the prospect of toying with their sheriff. "Looking forward to it, sir."


End file.
